Against Federal Advice Pensacola Beach Opens; Over 400 people sick

  Posted by - June 28, 2010 at 3:20 am - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Onlookers stare at a huge mass of oil that came ashore on Pensacola Beach on June 23, 2010.
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I recently wrote that a former BP cleanup worker turned whistle blower has reported that BP cleanup, including those operations at Pensacola Beach, is mere cosmetic work that is leaving the beaches layered in oil.

An image from that post taken on June 23rd shows the massive amount of oil that has washed up on Pensacola Beach.

Onlookers stare at a huge mass of oil that came ashore on Pensacola Beach on June 23, 2010.

Onlookers stare at a huge mass of oil that came ashore on Pensacola Beach on June 23, 2010.

Even with the huge mass of oil that came ashore on June 23rd, the Pensacola News Journal Reports that local officials have ignored EPA advise and have open the beach for swimming even as the beach is littered with tarballs, an massive slick is visible in the water and skimmers are busy collecting oil just 25 to 50 feet offshore.

The Escambia County Health Department lifted a health advisory on Pensacola Beach on Friday on the advice of a beach official and against the advice of a federal environmental official.

But the advisory was not lifted for Gulf Islands National Seashore’s Fort Pickens beach, immediately west of Pensacola Beach or Johnson Beach on Perdido Key.And hours after the Pensacola Beach advisory was lifted, the health department asked for state approval to issue an oil-impact advisory that leaves the decision to swim in the Gulf of Mexico up to the discretion of individual beachgoers.

…

These moves send conflicting signals about how safe it is to swim in the Gulf of Mexico as the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill broadens.Dr. John Lanza, director of Escambia County Health Department, said the reason for leaving the decision up to beachgoers on whether to swim is because the oil situation on the beach is “very dynamic.”

“We have a situation that changes from one hour to the next, from one tide to the next, from wave to wave, from one wind direction to another,” he said.

Lanza said this ever-changing environment is something “we’re going to face for weeks or months in the future.”

…

So far, 400 people have sought medical care for upper or lower respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, and eye irritation after trips to Escambia County beaches, Lanza said.

By 10 a.m. on Friday, the double red flags prohibiting beachgoers from the water were replaced with yellow flags.“We’re flying the yellow flags. And that means you need to be careful where you step,” Lee said. “Just be careful and have a good time.”

But oil chips, tar balls and submerged oil slicks and the odor of petroleum still were present.

And people complained about getting a petroleum jelly-like substance on them from sand that was tainted brown.Swimmers who did venture into the water questioned whether it was really safe to wade, swim and play in the Gulf, especially when they had to walk through a line of tar balls and stay clear of skimmers scooping up oil just 25 and 50 feet from the shore.

“I only went into the water up to my ankles. That’s as far as I wanted to go,” said Joe Chambers, 28, of West Pensacola as he scrubbed off oily residue from himself and his son, Ethan, 4, in the public showers at Casino Beach. “It doesn’t smell like the beach. It smells like a gas station. There are no fish in the water. There’s nothing alive in the water. I don’t know how public officials can just look at the water and make a call to reopen it for swimming.”

Carol Doster of Grand Isle, Miss., said her son Dallas, 12, was frightened by the oil that streaked his legs and arms after a five-minute swim in the Gulf on Friday. “It won’t rub off,” Doster said.

She said the two were not going to get in the water again.

Lanza said the health department did not test the water or sand samples before lifting the health advisory.

He did send out health department employees to look at the water before they covered up the health advisory signs.

Dick Snyder, director of the Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation at the University of West Florida, began conducting water samples May 3 on Pensacola Beach every Tuesday and Thursday because beach and health officials were only doing visual assessments.

What you can’t see in the water may be more dangerous than what you can see, he said.

…

Lanza also lifted the advisory against the advice of Charlie Fitzsimmons, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deputy branch chief for Florida.Fitzsimmons had a team conducting water testing on the beach Thursday and Friday. He expects results from those tests — the first ones since oil landed on Pensacola Beach — early next week.

“My recommendation to the Santa Rosa Island Authority was to keep the beach closed until we can get a better handle on the actual material out here and to get more of it up,” Fitzsimmons said.

On Friday, Lee dismissed any notion that the water is unsafe, and said with the daily and hourly changes in water conditions on the beach, he can’t wait three days for results of water testing to decide to close or open the beach to swimming.

“That’s why we thought we had to start looking for dissolved oil,” he said.

It can’t been seen and it poses health risks. So far it’s not been found in the surf zone on the beach. But water samples taken Thursday in the surf zone, where most people swim, at Casino Beach, did reveal small amounts of alkanes, hydrocarbon molecules found in oil, he said.

Small amounts are not harmful. But the heavier, complex molecules in the tar balls, “are toxic,” Snyder said.

Perhaps even more sad is the main stream media coverage of this story which doesn’t even mention that the water is still full of oil and there are skimmers working as little as 25 feet offshore.

Here’s an example from MSNBC.com

While most national news outlets are reporting that Florida’s Pensacola Beach is closed, that isn’t the case — the Gulf has reopened for swimming along Pensacola Beach after the Escambia County Health Department lifted its health advisory today, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

The double red flags, which signal no swimming in the Gulf, came down at 10 a.m. ET and were replaced with yellow flags, which are cautioning folks to swim with caution of rough waves, not because of anything to do with oil.

To be sure, the oil is still there. It’s just not visible on the beach. “Despite intensive efforts by more than 1,100 workers and heavy equipment to clean thick tar from Pensacola Beach,” the News-Journal says, researchers from the University of South Florida discovered that oil is buried about 1 inch to 8 inches deep in the sand.

“It was so horrible yesterday, very thick,” Larry Mitchell, who grew up in Pensacola, told NBC station WALB of nearby Albany, Ga. “It makes you want to cry.”

Unlike the MSM, Local residents weighing in the decision are outraged by the decision which appears to put financial and economic considerations above the health and safety of the public.

One local resident comments:

This scenario is so like that in the movie Jaws. Remember the mayor and business people did not want to close the beaches because of the shark attack because it would hurt the tourist trade on the 4th of July. The medical examiner, under political pressure changes the autopsy from shark attack to boating accident. Hooper (the guy from the research institute) wants to close the beaches but the mayor prevails and the beaches stay open and the shark gets another victim. It is the same on Pensacola Beach, the federal people recommend closing the beach unti the water is tested but the mayor (Buck Lee) says it is safe to keep the beach open and the health dept (Dr Lanza) agree. Even though tests have not been run and over 400 people have reported to area hospitals with problems after swimming in the Gulf it is determined by Buck Lees visual observation that it is safe to swim. In addition they decide not to close the beach ever and instead will post signs saying swim at your own risk.

Another  resident comments that beach is oil stained as far as you can see.

I just returned from a trip to the beach, walked the pier and it is clear up towards the beach but a sheen of oil on the top swimmers cannot see and some heavy stuff below the surface just about 100 yards from where swimmers and their kids were having a good time. Was out there an hour saw a total of 3 segulls, 1 turtle and a few minnows, nothing else. Two big skimmers, a couple small boats skimming and hundreds of workers, front end loaders, buses and a oil stained beach as far as you could see. Casino Beach parking lot mostly full of equipment. No it’s not safe to swim, any one with bit of sense at all can see that with the sheen over the water and the water bubbling in places that there is a problem. I hope everyone involved gets sued when these people get sick.

The issue is also being discussed on ATS where a member notes that warnings signs about the swimming in the water have been covered with black plastic.

By the local officials re-opening the beaches they are sending the message that swimming is ok. Signs were covered with black plastic that had before warned folks not to enter the water. Don’t underestimate the depths to which people will stoop to save themselves from losing money when their economy is built around tourism and the beach. Being honest with the public about the risks does not seem to be the driving motivation. Testing the water and air quality before lifting the ban was not done. As many have pointed out – the dangers are what you can’t see – not what you can always.

Regardless this is just a very sad situation. My family and I have always tried to return to the Destin area where we have family to enjoy our beach time every few years. That won’t be happening. I feel so sad for the people living there, depending on the Gulf for their livelihood, and seeing it all destroyed. The people are the last ones to blame in this. The leaders and BP and other agencies we pay taxes to who are supposed to monitor these risks responsibly are the ones to blame. Just my opinion. It’s sad no matter how you look at this disaster.

Another comment I read suggested that cancer rates in areas where past spilles occurred should be researched. There was even a general comment that said nearly everyone who had worked clean-up on the Exxon spill was ill or had died. That kind of suggestion is worth some looks. I wonder what kind of chemicals were used to break up and “hide” that oil?

Again, thanks to the OP for the local new information and comments from residents. I’m sure there will be more waves of information coming in the future.

Another commenter recommends that anyone considering swimming in the Gulf first watch a YouTube video of an interview with Dr.Riki Ott discussing out the  break out of oil and dispersant related illnesses  across four Gulf states because of the BP Gulf Oil Spill.

Another commenter points out that the Pensacola water has been contaminated by the spill since two weeks after the spill has has been experiencing thousands of dead crabs and periwinkles over that time period even though the water has been clear.

Pensacola Beach has had contaminated water since tar balls started washing ashore. The water is unsafe. Smoke from burning oil in the Gulf has been quite bad at times, starting two weeks after the spill. Baby ghost crabs and periwinkles have been dying by the thousands for about four weeks. The water has been clear the entire time, which doesn’t mean it’s safe to swim in. We are shocked the swimming ban has been lifted. Please, Health Dept., Do Your Job! Nobody appreciates being misled. Those 400 people who have gone to the ER after being at the beach, should submit their hospital bills to whoever told them it was fine to go in the water. The people that live at the beach are not the ones going in the water, because we have seen and smelled this horror unfolding in our back yard and it is poisoning everyone that goes to the beach. Please put someone in charge out there that cares about the people; it’s too late for the sea life :( ((

Another comment points out that the local official making the decision is a used care salesman with no formal post high school education that shouldn’t be allowed to make such a decision based on visual inspection against the recommendation the EPA doctor.

Someone please tell me how a used car salesmen with no formal education beyond high school can visually “inspect” the water and declare it safe? What is Dr. Lanza thinking when he takes advise from Billy Lee with absolutely no test data to back the decision. There have been over 400 people seeking medical treatment after beach visits, shouldn’t Dr. Lanza consider those as indicators that all may not be right at the Beach.

It is a huge risk to place the health and safety of our residents and visitors on the finely calibrated nose and eyes of Billy Lee against the advise of Charlie Fitzsimmons Deputy Branch Chief of the U. S. EPA for Florida? The EPA has taken actual samples and will have the results in on a couple of days. Please Mr.Lee present you scientific credentials.

Hopefully the SRIA will take swift action to countermand this foolish declaration by Lee and finely replace this embarrassment to Pensacola Beach.

Another commenter was shocked that adults where allowing their children to play in the water when you could see tarballs everywhere.

was there yeserday afternoon and I was very surprised how clean the beach and water looked compared to just days ago. So, i headed toward the water (i was wearing tennis shoes) to get a closer look (this was at casino beach). There are so many little tar balls everywhere it is unbelievable. They are in the sand and water. There were kids runnning around in the sand, playing in the water and adults also. I couldnt believe it! You can see a sheen on top of the water! Common sense should tell you – DONT get in! You can see the tar balls everywhere! They stick to you and dont come off so easily. The bottoms of my shoes were caked with oil and i just stayed in one place while looking around. I can barely get it off my shoes! The reason it is open for swimming is…..money, duh! People, use your common sense and stop expecting the government to think for you.

Another commenter complained about the taste of oil and a burning tongue after having a lunch near the oil filled Gulf.

Totally agree. I spent an hour on Friday at Soundside Park, which is normally a beautiful place to have lunch and relax. After an hour, I left with the taste of oil in my mouth and my throat and tongue burning. I am in complete and utter disbelief that Buck Lee of all people would say that based on a visual inspection the water, it was safe to swim in! I am sick and disgusted! Is a respirator the only answer? Air quality report? DEP? I think that an unbiased private party would be qualified but I don’t trust ANYTHING any branch of the government tells me

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